It will take over Backbone's home at the East Brisbane Bowls Club for the entire month of October, featuring a line-up of game-changing artists, unmissable parties, circus, cabaret, theatre, music…

Lead by a team of young and emerging cultural leaders, the festival is a training playground that also provides hands-on experience and career pathways. It's the only fully mentored skills development programme of its kind in Brisbane.

So with that all being said, what are some of the highlights of Backbone Festival - How Soon Is Now? The team at Backbone have put together a list of five shows you should definitely check out during the event.

Always - Saturday 6 October

Always was. Always will be. The lands we are on are stolen and sacred. The longest continuing cultures on this planet are the bedrock of the special place we share and create together today'Always' is a gig that brings our favourite artists to the stage to honour our past and move into our future together. FEATURING:YirrindaJosh DavetaDeclan BeetsonEggveinHa NaBlaq CarrieSuperfeather

La Silhouette - Thursday 4 and Friday 5 October

A drag queen takes you by the hand to tell you secrets in her dressing room. A punk shares her bent cigarette and a track from her tape deck. A police man collects his bribe and a room full of people are brought to their knees. This is the shape of queer history.

Ride - Friday 19 and Saturday 20 October

Shove the trash over and pile in. We’re blasting tunes on the hunt for a party tonight. 'Ride' invites you into the passenger seat on a drive down memory lane.

BaBeL - Saturday 27 October

Backbone Festival: How Soon Is Now will close with the one-night-only spectacle, 'BaBel', a collaboration between Younes Bachir, previously of La Fura Dels Baus, Deborah Leiser-Moore of Tashmadada, Strings Attached, and a number of local artists. 'BaBel' is a spectacle born out of biblical mythology. A homage to each unique human identity. A song to the richness of diversity. A celebration of the languages of all the inhabitants of earth.

Punks in the Palace - Saturday 20 October

Brisbane remains honoured for the oppressive politics that gave birth to a thriving punk scene. Punk is not dead. FEATURING:LexiconStainDAGZUnboundFROWN

Backbone Festival runs from 4-27 October at 38 Lytton Road, East Brisbane.